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What 'good' looks like

Some years ago, when he was working at BP, Chris Collison and his colleagues developed a deceptively simple methodology that helped transform the way that knowledge and expertise was identified and shared. This ‘river' diagram remains an astonishingly powerful tool that is used by organisations of all types, size and sectors, from global telecommunications businesses to third sector organisations.At the latest NetIKX event, Chris guided members through a river exercise that sought to identify the supply and demand for knowledge expertise within the room.The process involves:

Bringing stakeholders together to agree ‘what good looks like'

Enabling teams to self-assess their performance levels

Encouraging teams to set targets for improvement

‘Matchmaking' those with a supply of expertise and experience with those who want to improve

As with any great consulting methodology there is as much to be gained from participating in the process itself as there is from the actual outputs. The conversations that take place to discuss what constitutes ‘basic', ‘good' or ‘excellent' can help stakeholders to develop a shared organisational language. The process helps organisations identify, capture and share good practice. The longevity of the river diagram approach also shows the power of effective visualisation - and of a great metaphor.In our session, two café conversations took place, bringing together those who self-assessed high on knowledge strategy and organisational learning and those seeking to learn from them.The amount and level of animated knowledge sharing at our workshop demonstrates just how healthy the NetIKX knowledge marketplace is. It also shows how committed the members are, not only to their own learning, but also to the ongoing development of peers and the future success of knowledge and information management.